Two University of California, Berkeley, law students have been accuse of a disgusting crime in which they tore the head off a 14-year-old Helmeted guinea fowl in the Flamingo’s wildlife habitat and then laughed about it. Security cameras reportedly caught Eric Cuellar, 24, and Justin Teixeir, 24, chasing the bird into the trees and then carrying out its body and severed head as some type of hilarious joke.
While witnesses said that the two Berkeley law students were laughing and talkative while chasing and killing the bird, they refused to talk to police once they arrived at the scene. They both face felony charges of conspiracy and willful, malicious torture/killing of wildlife.
As a law professor, I am frankly appalled by the story. These students obviously worked hard to make it into a premier law school and have now thrown away their careers in a spasm of alleged senseless and inhuman violence. We have previously discussed these cases of cruelty to animals and how sentences tend to be relatively low when the victims are animals. However, people who would do such things to animals in my view represent obvious threats to society. It shows a callous disregard for the suffering of a living thing — even an element of enjoyment from the suffering or killing of an innocent creature.
The students should be given the opportunity to defend themselves before the law school takes any action to expel them. However, if they plead guilty or are convicted of these crimes, they obviously will be expelled and it will be difficult for them to become members of the bar if they find entry into law schools after serving any sentence. I have always favored an element of forgiveness for some students who come to law school with criminal records after showing rehabilitation and remorse. I have seen extraordinary people emerge from troubled lives. What is different in this case is that these students committed the alleged crimes after attained tremendous success in their lives. They may still be able to show such rehabilitation but they will meet with lingering skepticism and understandable anger if they are found guilty of this heinous crime.
The only likely defense would be the claim that they were intoxicated — a common problem in Vegas. While I am still concerned that alcohol would unleash a desire to torture an animal, they could claim that they were drunk and just chasing the bird. The beheading could be claimed as a result of their effort to grab the resisting bird. At least such an account (if accepted) would refute the suggested that they wanted to torture or kill the bird.
The defense could be critical not only in terms of a conviction but readmission to law school. The problem with an eventual reentry of the men into a law school is the underlying cruelty reflected in the crime. We cannot make lawyers better people in law school. We cannot make them sympathetic to the suffering of others. All of that is determined before they sit in our classes. However, we can keep out of the profession those people who have taken sadistic pleasure from the suffering of animals or people.
What do you think? Should these men be able to return to law school after serving time for such a crime if convicted?
Source: 5Vegas
Cal Berkley, need I say more
Laughing after the act pretty much negates any mitigating defence of the act.
leejcaroll,
I cannot agree with you that law school makes people worse and less ethical. Are there bad attorneys out there? Of course, but your brush stroke is a bit too broad, imo.
“We cannot make lawyers better people in law school. We cannot make them sympathetic to the suffering of others.”
From my experience law school only seems to make them worse, seems to take the ethical out of people who went in hoping to do good in the world. When you have ‘people’ like these going in with a lack of humanity (animalanity) I would hate to see what law school would turn them into.
Mike Spindell 1, October 16, 2012 at 9:06 am
Many sociopaths and psychopaths have history’s of torturing animals. Killing animals for amusement disgusts me personally, but each to his own.
Their careers in law should be terminated permanently because this particular piece of behavior indicates their natures are prone to frivolous violence.
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The term “frivolous violence” in young psychopaths and sociopaths is good to take note of as you do, because it grows up into mega-violence if not treated/prevented.
Noam Chomsky has a piece in the Guardian where some of these types made it into the scenario where the U.S. Government activated the apocalyptic hide the government in an undisclosed location sequence:
(The Most Dangerous Moment – So Far).
“Someone in their home town needs to kick their asses no matter what the courts do to these punks.” -FairlyBalanced
Another advocate for the thugs/vigilantes who are working the streets in our communities?
nick,
And the only birds in an old Vegas casino would have been roosters in cockfights.
What Mike S. said, but strike the word “frivolous.” (Ted Bundy comes to mind. We probably haven’t seen or heard the last of these two punks.)
FairlyBalanced, In old Vegas they would have been kicked to sh@t in a back room and thrown out on the strip.
When I gamble in Vegas I run into assh@les like this all the time. They were born on second and think they just went yard. They sit down @ blackjack tables and goof on dealers. I give them sh@t for their disrespect and they amost always shut up. They don’t usually come to the craps table where I spend 90% of my time. They’re not smart enough to play craps and seem to sense you don’t mess w/ craps players or dealers. Because of guys like these I usually hit the sack by midnight in Vegas. That, and I’m an old f@cker.
Bron… I disagree with the ease in ripping a particular bird’s head off. When pheasant or grouse hunting, if you don’t get a kill shot and the bird is found or brought back by dog alive you take hold of its head and spin its body around in order to snap the neck and kill the bird. As grusome as that sounds, its much more humane than letting the bird die slowly in your hunting vest…. Doing so rarely pulls its head off.
These birds are roughly the same size as pheasant and I can only believe that they purposefully tried to kill it and potentially they fully intended to take its head off…this was no accident stemming from simply grabbing the bird.
There is a great difference between a hunter who goes out and kills its prey humanely as possible and two drunken fools who go into a protected habitat to rip the head off of a bird. It shows they have little regard for life and our society’s culture…not good qualities in lawyers.
“prone to frivolous violence” (Mike S)
That is a perfect description and the basis from which any human should judge these 24 year old men.
Obviously they took great pleasure in the frivolous violence so the next logical question would be: What sort of pleasure would they take from serious violence?
Are they John Yoo’s research assistants?
Many sociopaths and psychopaths have history’s of torturing animals. Killing animals for amusement disgusts me personally, but each to his own.
Their careers in law should be terminated permanently because this particular piece of behavior indicates their natures are prone to frivolous violence.
If you grabbed the fowl by the head, it is quite possible it would come off in your hand. I once went with a friend to hunt rabbits with his hawk and after the hawk killed a rabbit my friend asked me to pull the head off to feed the hawk [they seem to like brains], well a rabbit head comes off pretty easy so I imagine it isnt too much of a stretch to think a bird head would offer little resistance.
But the guy on the left looks really creepy.
Jobs at Goldman are in their future. Blankfien is impressed that they were doing God’s work.
Total lack of empathy is very disturbing at best and should be punished with 10 years of volunteer work at the Humane Society..
“However, people who would do such things to animals in my view represent obvious threats to society.”
Tru dat.
This kind of behavior is more widespread than we think, and it works its way to the top, since lawyers more and more are becoming a part of government.
Judges, legislators, and presidents included.
With this process mutating within human social evolution we move ever closer to destruction of the human and many other species, because we are driven by the myth as JT said (“carrying out its body and severed head as some type of hilarious joke“), and as Dylan said in lyrics:
(Bob Dylan, All Along the Watchtower). When that works its way into government, then there arises a substantial threat to survival.
Yesterday I covered (The Most Dangerous Moment in Recorded History) involving some new revelations by Robert F. Kennedy, and quoted sources showing that this great danger still exists in our society.
Today the NY Times did likewise:
(The Price of a 50-Year Myth, emphasis added). Mike S has recently written about myth in American culture, so he has a new issue for that list of myths.
Before I saw Zarathustra’s comment I was about to say: Off with their heads.
But I will withold that until further thought. Someone in their home town needs to kick their asses no matter what the courts do to these punks.
Remove their hands………
They are probably headed to Wall Streeet for careers. Their behavior will fit in nicely with the other preditors.